By Andrey Alexandrov
05.06.2014  Facebook
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

This is what I managed to find out firsthand.

Here is the direct speech from the Director of one of the Crimean food companies:

“Emissaries from various Russian food manufacturers came to negotiate with us. They can be roughly divided into two categories.The first category includes “floats.” “Floats” give you a fatherly pat on your shoulder, saying, “Don’t worry, we will give you everything. What else do you need? Sugar? We’ll give you sugar. Oil? We will give you oil.” During attempts to talk about the specifics, as in prices, delivery conditions, etc., the “floats” begin to steer the conversation, saying, “You’ll get your prices and conditions, don’t get worked up about this. Russia will take care of you. We won’t let you go to pieces!” That is, there’s nothing concrete about it, but pathos and arrogance galore. Their attitude towards Crimean businessmen is similar to the way the Europeans treated the Papuans and other Pygmies who had recently climbed down from palm trees and were running around in loincloths.

The second category is the “managers.” The “managers” were sent on a business trip to “explore Crimea.” On arrival, they began to qualitatively work for their bread; they held meetings and visited potential partners. But all the enthusiasm of these “managers” sank with an analysis of economic feasibility.They couldn’t wrap their heads around the prices for Ukrainian goods.

Some of them directly announced, “I don’t believe this!” and so they were brought to the nearest chain store, the same ATB, to confirm with their own eyes that our quoted prices were accurate. Their eyes became round and they honestly admitted, “Well, there’s nothing for us to catch here.” Upon seeing the T-Milk [ultra pasteurized milk] at the price of 30 Rubles/liter, the representative of the largest Russian milk production company blurted out, “What did they pour in there in place of milk?” It turned out that the bulk selling price from this milk production plant is 41 Rubles/liter, and we have the same milk for 30 Rubles for sale at the store. But the Russian milk also still needs to be delivered…

At the end of our meeting, many “managers” confessed, during the confidential part of our conversation (not for the official protocol), “Frankly speaking, we don’t want anything to do with Crimea. It’s one hemorrhoid after another. It will give us a giant headache, though our salaries will remain unchanged. First, we would need to figure out how to deliver the products. Second, there would be such a mess with the laws, taxes, and the legal status of Crimea. But we are given orders by the party command and the government “to master Crimea,” so here we are to “master” it. And the fact that your prices are wildly low is even better. When we return home, we will write to our bosses that the job is done, the negotiations took place, we found the partners, but that it’s unrealistic to work with Crimea at this time. And we will postpone our relationship with you and put it on a back burner. And then we’ll see. We will be waiting for you when the supplies of Ukrainian goods are cut off, and then either the Sultan will die or the donkey will…”

So that’s how the “relationship ties” between Crimean product sellers with their Russian suppliers somehow develop. I’d like to add that I haven’t seen new brands or new products on the [supermarket] shelves… All ours, [are] native, time-tested, and favored to death.

Source: Andrey Alexandrov FB

Euronews video still of masked men in Crimean grocery store.